Hopscotch
by Rosesdancinginmymind
Summary: Established SQ play hopscotch. This started out quite fluffy but gets a bit serious towards end, TW for a very implicit reference to the torture in 2x21 but otherwise this is just fluffiness.


_AN: This started out as a nice fun little drabble to cheer myself up after the feels inducing sneak peek. Somehow though it got very serious in the middle of this but hopefully it's still quite fluffly. Established SQ. Set post Season Two and ignoring the whole fail-safe let's destroy SB thing. TW for very implicit references to the electrocution. I don't own Once or its characters. Hope you like this :)_

_Summary: SQ play hopscotch_

You stare at the defiant scowling brunette and offer up your most adorable pout; "Come on Regina pwease?"

She rolls her eyes at your tone. "No"

"Why not?"

"Why?" she counters.

You smirk at her, "Well for starters" you gesture to the clear blue sky above you, "Today is like the perfect day for it and you have the perfect paved area for it, plus it will be fun"

"I don't see how it will be, I can think of far more things to do that would be much more enjoyable"

You walk over and hug her winking conspiratorially, "I know babe, but this will be fun and it will make me happy if you try it"

She looks down and you know you've won her over, she scoffs and flips her hair out of her face before sighing and saying "Fine"

"Yes!" you fist-pump the air causing her to roll her eyes at you again. You look her over, "You need to change though"

"There's nothing wrong with my outfit" she says gesturing to her skirt, heels and smart silk shirt. You smile, "It's great for the office but for this it's very impractical"

"I'm sure it will be suitable for this childishness Emma"

You scoff, "Okay then try and hop in those heels" you challenge raising your brow.

Her brow mirrors yours accepting the challenge. You subtly move closer as she balances very badly in her heels. You watch as the stubborn brunette begins to do a few very wobbly hops before stumbling out of her shoe, luckily you catch her before she hits the floor or you would never have heard the end of it.

"Are you okay?" you ask sweeping her gently back onto her now shoeless feet.

She nods. "Yes"

"Are you going to go change now?"

She play hits you on the chest before rolling her eyes, "Don't look so smug Emma, I'll be back in a few minutes"

You watch as she gathers her shoes and with as much grace as a woman who just catapulted herself out of her shoes to prove a point can muster slowly walks inside the house.

While you wait for the brunette you grab a piece of chalk and draw out the game board and gather up some stones to use. You know it's a childish game but you were thinking about your childhood this morning and this is one of the few things from it you enjoyed and you want to share that with the infuriating beautiful woman that you love.

"Is this better?" you hear from the steps and you turn to see Regina with her hair pulled up into a ponytail, wearing a pair of your black sweats, a long sleeved baseball tee and trainers. She looks adorable in the outfit and you smile as she fidgets awkwardly awaiting your approval.

"Much better" you say, "Come here"

She smiles and joins you and she stands up on her tiptoes so she can kiss you. "So Emma" she begins.

"Yeah" you say.

"What exactly is this game?" she asks wrinkling her nose.

You turn to her stunned, "You've never played this game?"

She shakes her head and looks away from you, you realise that her childhood allowed even less time for silly games like this one than yours did. "Did Henry not play it?"

She shakes her head again, "Not that he shared with me"

She looks pretty miserable at this point and you decide it's definitely time to shift the mood, "Well then you're in luck, because I just so happen to be the greatest hopscotch player in this whole town"

She laughs, "You do realise how small the population of this town is?"

You shrug, "Still the best"

"I'm sure you are, I'm still going to beat you at this game"

You laugh before explaining how the game works to her delighting in her puzzled expression, "So no-one wins?"

"Nope, it's just fun without competition"

"Sounds boring" she whines scuffing her shoe on the floor.

You grab her hand, "When I was a kid I didn't get a lot of chances to just be a kid and play games but one of the foster homes I was in, there was an older girl and she taught me this game and you know for a little while I was able to just play you know, I didn't have to worry about the crap going on around me, I could just be a kid" you turn to face her and see that she has a tear rolling down her cheek before she wraps her arms around your neck. "I'm sorry, we can play Emma"

You grin at her, "Wanna go first?"

She shakes her head before giving you an odd look, "What?" you ask.

"If there's no competition than how can you be the greatest at it?"

You laugh, "Okay we can make it a competition, whoever hopscotches to the stone fastest wins"

She grins "You're on"

You laugh and hand her the stone watching as she clumsily tosses it past the end of the hopscotch board you drew earlier, "Nice throw" you say to her with a smile.

"Thanks, so ready to race?"

You nod, "1, 2, 3 GO!" you shout and begin hopscotching your way to the stone. You beat her quite easily to the small pebble and turn and smile at the sight of your usually graceful girlfriend struggling to hopscotch her way up the grid. She glares at you when she looks up and sees you standing triumphantly with the stone. "This game is ridiculous!" she yells.

You laugh and hopscotch your way back to where she is, "Your fault for throwing it so far" you grin.

She rolls her eyes before stumbling as she fails to transition between the hop and the jump part, "Easy" you say catching her. "How about we practice before we start doing it competitively?"

She nods, "That would be agreeable"

You walk back over to the starting panel and tell her to start, it takes a few practice runs and you having to demonstrate how to effectively move from hopping to jumping and back to hopping as huffs in frustration and grumbles but eventually, because as she points out it doesn't take her long to master any skill even if it is a child's game, she begins to manoeuvre across the chalk grid a lot easier.

"Okay" you say as she hopscotches her way up the grid and back down to you, "You want to try racing again"

She nods, "I'm going to beat you this time" she says confidently and you smile.

"We'll see Gina"

This time you throw the pebble since you won last time and it lands at the end of the board. You smile as you countdown the race and set off this time though you only just beat her to the end.

The pair of you lose track of time and wind up playing the game for an hour. You're beginning to grow feel your muscles ache and you can tell Regina is probably tired from the way she's beginning to pant a little through her laughs. You smile because you've spent the afternoon running around and laughing with your girlfriend like a pair of children and it feels so good after all the drama of late to be able to just muck around like this for a day.

You throw the small stone and it sails through the air before landing on the porch. You both hopscotch your way as quickly as possible up the drive and you hop up onto the first step before noticing that the brunette has stopped frozen on the bottom step, standing on one leg and worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. You realise quickly that she has no idea how to navigate her way up the steps. You know this means you could just easily gain victory but your relationship with her is built upon so much more and you know you'll always go back for her even if it's just to get her up some steps. You reach down and hold out your hand for her to take.

She stares up at you in confusion.

"Gina, come on I'll help you"

"Really? But you could win" she says.

"Yeah but some things are more important" you say hoping she gets your meaning. When she grins at you, you know she does. She slips her hand into yours and stares up at you with her chocolate brown eyes, "What do I do?"

You smile and very slowly go with her up the steps. The tip of her foot just catches on the top step sending you both crashing down, luckily you react fats enough to make sure she lands on top of you and not the step.

"Sorry" she says huffing a little in frustration.

"It's okay Gina" you say moving to comfort her.

"No it isn't, I should be able to get up a few steps by myself" she moans.

You move so she can sit up next to you and you take her hand in yours noticing a few tears of frustration roll down her cheek. You brush them away with your thumb and she smiles a little. "These things take time Regina"

Her hair has loosened from the physical exertion and you can see the small scar on the side of her head from what happened. You don't really know what to say to make it better. She catches you staring and moves to brush her hair back over it, "Don't look at that" she says quietly.

You move the hair back and place a gentle kiss to the scarred flesh there before brushing her hair back over it, "I love you Gina, you don't have to hide it away from me"

"I'm not hiding it from you" she mumbles.

Your heart clenches a little as you get her meaning; she's hiding it from herself. "I don't need any more reminders" she says quietly.

"I know baby" you say slipping your arm around her shoulders. She yawns leaning into you, "You feeling okay?" you ask hoping you haven't pushed her too far today.

She nods, "Just a little tired, thank you for making me play Emma, it was fun"

"Told you so" you smile at her though today, whilst you wanted her to have fun and to laugh, was about more than just a game and you both know it.

"Thank you" she says.

"You just said that"

She rolls her eyes before resting her head on your shoulder, "For helping me"

You smile, "Never a problem honey, I'll always be here to help"

She smiles, "I know, your way is more fun than the hospital's though"

You know she hates PT but she needs it and most of the time you do have to force her to go because let's face it the woman is still stubborn as hell and doesn't like to admit she needs help. She'll tell you though and you'll help her in whatever way you can think of even if it is just hopscotch because sometimes you think the best recovery is in being able to forget for an hour and just play a game with the one you love.

You look down at her and see that she's fallen asleep on your shoulder. You smile and continue to sit on the porch with her leaning into your shoulder, you smile at the chalk grid on the driveway and think back to when you were a little girl playing hopscotch by yourself wishing you had someone else to play with. You look at the brunette next to you and grin glad you found your perfect hopscotch partner.


End file.
